World's Best Olive Oils for 2021 Revealed at Premier Competition

The com­plete results of the 2021 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition were released today on the Official Guide to the World’s Best Olive Oils, after a three-day online roll­out of the award-win­ning brands.

Producers from 28 coun­tries deliv­ered 1,159 brands to the indus­try’s most pres­ti­gious con­test. An inter­na­tional team of experts ana­lyzed each entry remotely from 13 coun­tries.

In an aston­ish­ing dis­play of the deter­mi­na­tion of pro­duc­ers to improve their craft, 790 brands earned the NYIOOC’s cov­eted Gold and Silver Awards for out­stand­ing qual­ity, for an over­all suc­cess rate of 68 per­cent.

NYIOOC pres­i­dent Curtis Cord said the steadily climb­ing tally of win­ners since the first edi­tion of the con­test in 2013 was ​“the strongest pos­si­ble state­ment by coura­geous pro­duc­ers in fac­ing down chal­lenges to put out the best prod­uct pos­si­ble for our health and enjoy­ment.”

“Faced with every­thing the world threw at them this year, some­how these ded­i­cated peo­ple still man­aged to cre­ate extra vir­gin olive oils of out­stand­ing qual­ity — an exceed­ingly dif­fi­cult thing to do even under the best con­di­tions,” Cord added.

The 790 brands now com­prise an elite list of the world’s best extra vir­gin olive oils on the Official Index, the guide used by mil­lions of peo­ple each year to learn about the award win­ners and the peo­ple behind them.

“These are the brands that deliver the high­est value in terms of the char­ac­ter­is­tics we expect when we choose an extra vir­gin olive oil,” Cord said, ​“and they are worth search­ing for.”

Olive Oil Times reporters began con­tact­ing pro­duc­ers for their reac­tions after win­ning the pre­mier award in the olive oil indus­try.

“This award means we are pro­duc­ing olive oil the right way. It’s repay­ment for all our hard work,” said Matej Drnovšček, owner of Kmetija Drnovšček Estate in Slovenia and the pro­ducer of the Gold Award-win­ning brand Drnovšček Belica.

Italian pro­ducer Simone Botti, who owns Le Fontacce, won a Gold Award for his Tuscan blend. ​“This award repays the sac­ri­fices and all the work that has been done dur­ing the year,” he told Olive Oil Times, ​“espe­cially at the time of har­vest­ing with the mill that I per­son­ally man­age.”

Spanish pro­ducer Oro del Desierto won two Gold Awards, extend­ing an impres­sive win­ning streak at the NYIOOC. ​“We are so happy with the results,” said owner Rafael Alonso when he learned of the awards. ​“We have con­tin­ued to have con­sis­tent, pos­i­tive results since 2014 at this com­pe­ti­tion. Nevertheless, we’ll con­tinue to try to give our best every year.”

“Since the start, I’ve worked hard to pro­duce a top qual­ity, eth­i­cally pro­duced olive oil capa­ble of tick­ling the most sophis­ti­cated of palates while beau­ti­fy­ing our land by restor­ing aban­doned groves. Winning this award means recog­ni­tion of this hard work,” said Francesco Piattelli Palmarini, whose Maraviglia blend earned a Gold Award.

“Proud, rewarded, and moti­vated!” said Petros Papaspyrou after earn­ing three awards for his Papas Grove extra vir­gin olive oils pro­duced in Kranidi Argolidas, Greece. ​“It keeps our small fam­ily busi­ness com­mit­ted to con­tinue offer­ing qual­ity, hon­est pro­duce.”

“These awards mean so much to me,” said Brooke Hazen, owner of Goldridge Farms in California. ​“It gives me such a warm feel­ing of grat­i­tude and sat­is­fac­tion after we put so much time, energy and money into pro­duc­ing the best olive oil pos­si­ble.”

This arti­cle com­mences our spe­cial cov­er­age of the 2021 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition in which we will high­light the peo­ple behind the award-win­ning brands.